STORY BEHIND THE ART OF KEIKO NIBU TARVER
23rd Annual International
American Society of Botanical Artists at Wave Hill
Autumn Horse Chestnut
Aesculus hippocastanum
The year 2020 will be one of the most unforgettable years of my life. In the middle of March, we were put in an unprecedented situation: staying and working at home, social distancing, closed stores except for essential ones etc. to prevent the spread of COVID-19. At the beginning of quarantine, without knowing of this terrible virus’s nature, I thought I would have a lot of time to paint. But the everyday reports about rapidly increasing numbers of infected and dead people, the death of one of my husband’s colleagues and my friend’s struggling against the COVID-19 infection gradually weighed heavily on me. I had a feeling as if we were facing a pandemic of plague, remembering The Plague by Albert Camus. I couldn’t concentrate on painting. I might have gone stir crazy! The email from Carol Woodin in May announcing the acceptance of my ‘Autumn Horse Chestnut’ for the ASBA 23rd Annual International was great news and it helped me to get out of that terrible psychological situation. It reminded me of a list of what I want to paint in the future.
I have been watching several horse chestnut trees and buckeyes in several parks and gardens through the years. I love the soft young leaves covered with thick hair in early spring, beautiful erect panicles with many flowers which attract bees in spring, strong and vivid large palmate leaves in summer, colored leaves with green, yellow ocher and brown in autumn, and beautiful tree figures and heart shaped leaf scars in winter. Among them, my favorite season is autumn.
In autumn, the leaves show their endurance against the sunlight, wind, rain, etc. for more than half a year, and at the same time the trees are preparing for the next year with production of seeds and firm sticky buds. I tried to express the beautiful moment of the tree in autumn. Even though the leaflets are faded, the strong straight petioles are still showing dignity. Because of their opposite leaf attachment, the stem and a pair of the petioles make an X shape which is one of the rules not to do when you paint. But fortunately nature created a very natural X shape with leaflets and seeds. The posture of the branch itself was perfect.
Because of staying at home, I missed seeing my children (horse chestnut trees and buckeyes) for a long time. I hope I can see beautiful autumn leaves in the coming autumn without worries about COVID-19.
Next Story
Back to List
Read more about this artist’s work: 21st Annual